Fleeing Uzbek rebels escaped to Pakistan

As many as 600 members of an Islamist Uzbek group escaped U.S. troops in Afghanistan and found refuge in Pakistan, one guerilla said Thursday. Mukhiddin Nuritdinov, a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, answered journalists’ questions from National Security Service lock-up. Nuritdinov, 42, was born in Namangan, an Uzbek city in the Ferghana valley, considered an Islamic stronghold. In the early 1970s, Nuritdinov was a soldier of the Soviet army. After demobilization he worked as a weaver. At that time he started to study Islam. In the 1990s Nuritdinov and some his comrades began to rob rich people to “restore justice” and help families of convicted Muslims. A part of the loot is also meant for “fighters for Islam” in neighboring Tajikistan. Full Story

OODA Analyst

OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.